broody hen raising "her own" chicks?

[mudpaw]

I have two broody hens on eggs right now and I thought about letting the hens raise the chicks themselves. Is this better/worse than pulling the after hatch putting them in a brooder? If you have done this what sort of set up did you use/how did it go? There will be about 10 days between the hatch dates.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Just curious as to why you would want to pull the chicks? I got a broody just so she would do that work for me.

 

[Chickenoverload]

It really depends. If u let a broody do it then u won't have as much to deal with and it is more natural too. u might be able to leave the chicks with the rest of the flock or seperate them which might even make more work for you. i dont know itis up to u.

 

[Stephanie-n-Hayden]

I let one of my broody banties lay on and hatch her own eggs last fall. It was my first experience with hatching and I decided it would be best to let nature take it's course rather than mess it up with my own lack of knowledge and inexperience. She did great. She sat for a month on those eggs, only coming off occassionaly to eat and drink. I candled them about 3 weeks into it, couldn't tell anything, almost threw them out, but decided to give her a couple more weeks. I was so thrilled when they actually hatched out. She was sitting on five eggs, and all five hatched. Here are the pros and cons I realized with doing this...
Pros: 1) the hen did all the work herself 2) it was awsome getting to watch her carre for them and protect them
Cons: 1)one of the chicks died from falling out of the nest box, which sits about two foot off the ground. It either fell out and the fall killed it, or one of the other hens killed it, or it simply died from being too cold for too long. 2) The mom would not leave her chicks to go eat, therefore, she was pratically starving herself and the chicks. 3) The "head" hen tried her best to kill the chicks, pecking at the mother's head until her rose comb was completely pecked off. The mother would hide her chicks under her while she was pecked on the head persifully by the other hen. I was horrified when I realized this! 3) It was impossible to keep the mother and babies with this other hen, so I was forced to separate them by putting the mother and chicks in a brooder in the garage until we put up a dividing chicken wire wall in the coop to protect them from the other hen. This was not an easy process. 4) because the chicks were raised by their mother, they are more wild than the flocks I have hand raised. They are way more leary of me and I am not able to pick them up or anything.

I guess it just depends on your setup, but the hardest part for me was the way the "head" hen handled the situation of having new chicks in the flock. They are grown and laying eggs of their own now, and I hope to be able to free range them some together this summer. I don't know how the "head" hen will do with them, I am just crossing my fingers and hope that no one gets hurt. Good luck with your eggs! Keep us posted on how they do.

 

[phalenbeck]

My last batch hatched in Dec cold with no intervention by me except keeping food and water very close. A couple other hens got into the act so 3 moms. The only way to go.

 

[mudpaw]

I'm glad to hear that the hens do such a good job. I just wasn't sure...I would prefer to let the hens do it. I had chicks in my house last time (I got them in the fall and kept them in until they got too big-that was not fun. The feather dander/dust was everywhere....uhhhgg

I think I'm going to move the hen and her chicks into my shed when the hatch. Each hen and her chicks will have their own pen and they will be out of the weather and separated from the other hens (and my dogs).

 

[emjay]

I have 3 broody hens right now, well, one is almost done her time, her babies are coming up 5 weeks old, she's almost ready to go back to her flock.

the second broody, her eggs just hatched, I am moving her tonite to her brooding box, so she can at least walk around, stretch out, but still be close with her babies. (right now she is in a dog kennel)

the third broody just started to sit on her 'own' clutch of eggs. I am letting her go completely au naturel. she laid an egg a day for five days and has now committed to setting them. so, they will be due in 3 weeks.

I love having the moms do all the work, but, my daughter hates it because she can't cuddle with the babies, without losing an eye from mama hen. they are very protective. so that is a downfall.

but, I ogle them every day and spend as much time in the pen with the older ones to get them used to humans.

 

[LesGan]

I let Momma do the work and she set the eggs in a nesting box in the chicken house. When close to hatch date I fashioned a wire cage about 2' X 3' up flush with the front of the nesting box Momma was setting in. Luckily she was in an end box and I angled the cage so that the other nesting boxes were free. It was large enough for Momma and chicks to move out of the box out into the hay lined cage. There was food and water for Momma and for the chicks. All the chickens were seperated but together in the house and peaceful. After a few days when chicks got more active I moved the cage onto the floor of the chix house. I had designed it with a deep lip that the chicks couldn't get over but allowed Momma to leave the cage. It had a cage door that I shut at night to keep Momma and chicks secured and yet in the chix house with the others. As chicks got older and bolder I sectioned off a part of the chicken yard for babies using a "chute" at the pop door to direct the chickens from house into each yard area. At some point I disassembled the cage, chute, temporary fencing and all was peaceful with the original 3 hens, rooster and new baby...only one egg was viable out of 3.

I will use this method again this year since it worked so well for me. It provided security for chicks from falling from nest, safety for Momma and chick from the others and yet kept them all together. The first time the chick came face to face with Roo-Daddy chick jumped up on his back and just sat there. Roo was fine with that I think because they had all been together. Hens a bit harsher but Mom was safe until baby was older and everyone had had time to get used to each other. When I finally let them all be together in the yard I provided some lean-tos along fence that baby could go into but not the others and there was food and water for baby in there as well. That worked well too. Good luck.